India's crude oil production dips 3.3 per cent in November over lower output

NEW DELHI: India's crude oil production dropped 3.3 per cent in November after output fell at fields operated by both public and private sectors.

Crude oil production at 3.04 million tonnes (MT) in November was 3.3 per cent lower than 3.15 MT output in the same month a year ago, according to a data released by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas today.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) reported a 1.3 per cent drop in output at 1.84 MT as production at its onshore fields fell.

Oil India Ltd (OIL) production was also down 7.18 per cent at 264,878 tonnes while fields operated by private firms reported a near six per cent decline at 936,647 tonnes.

Cairn, the ministry said, saw natural decline in its eastern offshore Ravva field as well as Mangala field in Rajasthan. Reliance Industries' eastern offshore KG-D6 block also saw under performance of wells, it said.

Natural gas output was also down nearly 4 per cent at 2.71 billion cubic meters, mostly because of drop in production at eastern offshore fields.

The nation's 22 refineries processed 2.53 per cent more crude oil at 19.7 MT. The charge was led by Reliance Industries' twin refineries at Jamnagar in Gujarat that converted 5.9 per cent more crude oil into fuel.

Overall, the refineries operated at 111.73 per cent of their installed capacity of 196.95 MT. RIL's twin refineries operated at 122.91 per cent of their installed capacity while Essar Oil's Vadinar refinery in Gujarat operated at 103 per cent of its installed capacity.

Refineries produced 19.47 MT of fuel in November, 5.04 per cent higher than 18.5 MT in the same period a year ago.

India's fuel consumption rose 6.4 per cent in November on the back of continued surge in petrol demand even as diesel sales showed signs of tapering.

Fuel consumption in November at 14.8 MT was 6.4 per cent higher than 13.9 MT consumed in the same month a year ago, according to the data.

Diesel, the most consumed fuel in the country, however, saw a tapering in demand growth to 1.5 per cent - rising from just over 6 MT in November 2014 to 6.1 MT this year.

Petrol sales surged 17 per cent to 1.77 MT while naphtha consumption was up 39 per cent at 1.05 MT.

LPG consumption was up 2.8 per cent at 1.61 MT but kerosene sales was down 13 per cent at 518,000 tonnes, the data showed.